Over the years, I have spent an unreasonable amount of time thinking about the coming Apocalypse - what form it would take, what my response would be, what my odds would be. I blame Christianity - during those long slow hours in church as a youth, I found Revelations, and read them over and over again. I also blame school - during those long slow hours, I'd muse on how I'd react if gravity suddenly flipped, and assuming I survived the fall, what my long-term plan would be, how long I could last. "Mad Max", and Stephen King's "The Stand" really opened up the realm of apocalypse fantasy for me, and as futile as I consider the topic to be (since the main characteristic is that most people die), I continue to indulge the topic as a daydream, in myriad increasingly elaborate ways. As blighted as the post-apocalyptic landscape may be, it's going to be a lot less crowded. And social interactions will be a lot more interesting. And we get to loot! Like pirates!
Based on popular culture, I'm not exactly alone - zombies, killer robots, mutant supervillains, myriad species suddenly evolving superstrength, supersize, and/or superintelligence, alien invasions, communist invasions, demonic invasions, vampire invasions, and so on. To say nothing of "reality" - drought, famine, earthquake, tsunami, nuclear brinksmanship, Reagan-era AIDS, drug epidemics, terrorism, tornados, supervolcanos, financial collapse, Republicans, the Tea Party, death cults, China, Mexican drug lords, invasive species, hackers, asteroids, CFC's, global warming, climate change, trash gyres, poverty, and so on.
WE SHOULD BE THINKING ABOUT THE APOCALYPSE ALL THE TIME!
I have a friend who works as a social organizer, in a suburban/rural area, primarily working with church communities. In the last few years, she has become increasingly frustrated with church communities (usually conservative) which are spending all their communal energy stockpiling skills and resources for the anticipated apocalypse, to the exclusion of any interest in social justice campaigns for the benefit of the less-advantaged. Apparently they would rather be canning.
Well, there's something to be said for canning. I recently heard from a resident of Montpelier, VT (which I pronounce in the French Way), that they have an active and thriving Apocalypse Preparation Committee, that meets regularly, divying up tasks and roles such as energy generation, food production, evacuation, and so on, so that they'll be ready when the accident happens. That makes me wish I lived in Montpelier, VT. If anyone wants to collaborate on a similar project for Arlington, Virginia, I'm there.
But that's just preambular. My question today is, given that the Apocalypse is Unforeseeable and Unexpectable, what have you done to prepare? Please submit your list of no more than 10 items, skills, or what have you, that you feel improve your odds of surviving....THE COMING APOCALYPSE!
Here's mine:
1-Large bag of brown rice, + additional comestibles, adequate for 3+ months.
2-Hunting knife, and sundry machetes.
3-Camping gear, and camping knowledge.
4-Bicycle with paniers.
5-Knowledge of local watersheds, + kayaking/sailing skills.
6-General physical fitness.
7-Plan to head south for the winter.
8-Charm.
9-Caution.
10-Sympathy/Compassion.